Bedtime story for Steven
by seilfanni
Summary: One-shot. Little OCC. Pearl tells Steven a story about a princess to show not all Homeworld Gems are bad. She hopes that someday she will be able to state that Pink Diamond wasn't that bad. And that Steven will never meet the "perfect queen".


**Author's note: This is my first Steven Universe story and also the first time I am writing in English. (I'd say first attempt to write, nothing more.) I think I am doing just fine, but if anything is wrong, please tell me - for example I fear that I am terrible with "commas" or what they are.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Sorrowfully this way I don't know what will happen in the next few episodes so I have to wait as everyone else. "Patiently".**

 **Warnings: This is set after we got to know the event of a "Single Pale Rose". So sorry for the spoilers, if you hadn't watch that and the latters. (And: which rock have you been hiding under? I want to know to go and see the second Fantastic Beasts movie spoiler-free!)**

 **Edit: Spelling mistakes hopefully taken care of. 2019.12.29**

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"Story! Story! Story!" Steven shouted loudly and happily as Pearl gently put him down to his bed. The little half-human was already seven, but he had an affection towards bedtime stories. Pearl liked to think that he loved _her_ stories the most about his mother, Rose Quartz. Rather than the battle and human-related anecdotes Amethyst was telling or Garnet's - which was about nearly everything that came on during a talk, but always had a lesson in the end.

Pearl put the blanket on Steven, carefully adjusting, so that every tiny part of it was in the right place, while she asked, "About what?" already thinking of the thousands of moments she counted remarkable and felt that she must tell Steven.

"About mum and how she defeated those evil Gems at the Strawberry field!" The answer came fastly. Pearl felt herself shiver. Why on Earth is Steven calling Homeworld Gems evil? She never taught that to him! And surely Garnet also didn't... They all had their own... Almost-friends there, even if they didn't agree on everything. So how...?

"Amethyst" she muttered under her long, pointy nose. Even as she sat next to Steven she felt anger towards the small Gem. How dare she talk about _her_ old friends like this?

Then she remembered something.

Steven was a child. And as a child she could easily affect him. She was still able to get him to the right side, to make him better than his own mother. Yes. That is exactly what she was going to do!

"What do you say if I tell you a different story today?" she asked cautiously, but somehow buzzing with excitement. Steven must have felt it, because he immediately started nodding, little stars dancing in his eyes.

Pearl smiled at the sight of that, then glanced down at her pale hands, wondering how she would start the story. The easiest way suddenly came to her mind: she can tell it as a human-story! But how did those start?

"Once..." she wanted to start, pretty unsure about how to continue, when Steven interrupted her:

"...upon a time!" he added. The Gem looked at him with clearly showing gratitude.

"Yes, exactly. Once upon a time, there was a kingdom ruled by a queen, who was often referred as Pure Light. This queen was the beautifullest of them all - or so as they said" she noted sceptically, which caused Steven to giggle. "However" she started with alarm in her voice "because of this beauty the queen started being more and more in love with herself and her own perfection. Her fellow people understood it and she was barely distracted from watching herself in a mirror and thinking about her own perfect parts. But eventually, some things happened which caused her fellows to come and visit her."

"How did she reacted?" Steven asked, already on the edge about the little cliffhanger.

"She was furious" Pearl stated.

"But why?" asked Steven, eyebrows crossed. He looked concerned. "Why would she be furious?"

"Because she had faced her fellows who were just as imperfect as she was perfect." Pearls answered, not breathing. (Not that she needed to, anyway.)

Steven looked disappointed. "This was stupid from her. Everyone is perfect just the way they are." He shot a look up to Pearl. "Right?"

"Right" Pearl agreed. "But let me continue the story. So, there was the queen with the sudden knowledge of her people being unperfect. She quickly decided that she will not take that easily."

"What did she do?" Steven asked, eyes wide. Pearl wasn't the most happy to have to say the following words, but she did.

"She made laws about the unperfect people and how they should be locked away from society."

"That is horrible!" Steven screamed. "Why didn't they said no?"

"They couldn't. The queen was too powerful. They could only hope that some miracle will happen." Pearl's voice suddenly turned happy as she continued along. "The queen had a daughter."

"And she changed the queen's mind and eventually everyone was happy again?" Steven asked as fast as he could. Pearl shook her head.

"Not yet. But the daughter - also known as the General - did change the laws a little. She knew a lot about wars and war tactics and she knew that people with some defects can also be useful on battlefield."

"She does not sound that bad" decided the half-Gem. Pearl smiled.

"She wasn't. But even she treated the unperfect without mercy. Everything changed when the second daughter was born. She still did not like the imperfects - who were, that time going under the name 'off-colors' - at the same time she saved a little percent of them. She was often called too merciful by her sister so that became one of her titles." Pearl stopped for a minute to think about how she wanted to speak about the 'smallest sister'.

During that time, Steven formed his own opinion. "None of them really seems as a fully good person, but I think the sisters would be okay to meet with. I never want to see the queen." He added, horror in his voice. He moved over a little deeper into his pillow, holding his plushie bear tighter.

Pearl grabbed his hand. "You will not meet with the queen. I promise." She locked her eyes with his. Steven smiled a real smile.

"Thank you" he said quietly. Pearl pressed a kiss on his forehead.

"No need to thank me for acting like how a responsible parent would." She stated feeling that her own words were a little bit too much. She cleared her throat. "May I continue?" After the nod she did. "The smallest and last sister was born long-long after her older ones. As she grew, it became more and more obvious that she was different from her family. First of all, she loved every people and mourned for long hours for even an off-color. She was so empathetic towards others, she could always tell how they felt. That was why she understood people so much and because she understood them, they loved her the most. And there was an another reason."

"What?"

"She was an off-color in her own family." Steven gasped and Pearl tried to keep her tears away from her as she knew what was coming next. "That was the reason her own mother treated her so badly. And because of that treatment she spent more and more time with the people under her command. Her older sisters helped her escape their mother: they spent days teaching her lessons, not letting her go back to their mother's palace, they kept her in their owns. They gave her vehicles to travel and be far away. But they knew that in the end, she would always go back to their mother. The tiniest sister loved their mother." The white Gem stopped for a second. A longing smile displayed on her lips. "She hoped that their mother's love her back. Even after what her mother did to one of her minions. This incident happened after the smallest sister didn't do what the queen said." Pearl took a deep breath to reassure herself that everything was going to be okay in the end. She felt a warm thing on her arm. As she looked up she could see Steven, holding her arm and watching her with knowing eyes. She knew he couldn't know, but it still made her feel better. She held her head high. "From that point I know the story better than everyone else, because _I_ was the replacement for that minion" she said, unsure about why she said that.

Steven's eyes widened. "But you weren't hurt, were you?" With his eyes almost in tears, Pearl couldn't help herself, but feel warm inside her chest. Steven was the sweetest boy in the world!

"I wasn't, because when I was given to the off-color princess, her sisters already had a plan to separate her from their mother. However, the plan was still very dangerous and for a long time they didn't agree to it. When they did, the princess was buzzing with happiness." She smiled, remembering her face. It was worth more than anything.

"What happened?" Steve asked curiously, squirting from excitement.

"She was given an own planet. Earth" Pearl whispered solemnly. "She lived here in happiness until her time came. But there are legends that she is still here on Earth... She loved it so much, she was never able to leave it..." Pearl felt a mischievous smile creeping onto her face. "Maybe she is right next to you!" She mouthed, then launched a tickle-attack at Steven. The boy started hysterically laughing, even tears fell from his eyes. A few minutes later he was still rubbing them, smiling up at Pearl.

"This was a good story after all" he admitted. "The best ghost-story I've ever heard. But Pearl" he looked concerned "why haven't you told the princess' ghost to stay with you? You loved her, didn't you?"

Pearl - for a moment only - had no idea how to answer this question.

"I love others now" she finally said, glancing down at the yawning half-Gem. She smiled. "I will always love her, but I have others I have to take care of. Like you. And you, young man should be sleeping right now."

"I am" Steven said, turning to his side. "But Pearl?"

"Yes?" she asked, not even moving an inch.

"Will you stay with me here? In case the princess' ghost decides to actually come near me..."

"Of course." Pearl smiled softly, amused from the empathy Steven had inherited from that princess she once served. She wondered: what else did he got from Pink Diamond's persona?


End file.
